You thought I'd quit this, and I probably should have, but...

There's been a lot of writing done in the last few weeks. Words have formed piles in my head and come out through tremors in my fingertips. Poetry and fiction, dialogue and exposition, and one well hated paper. I've typed until a distaste for technology grew in my mouth, I sat in the library until the comfort of book dust choked my lungs. And then I finished.

I'm down to my dissertation. I'm 16,000 words away from the finish line and the red tape that awaits up ahead in June is coming into view. I'm nearly there. But there's still adventures to be had yet. I've spent the fall and winter working insane hours surrounded by the toned bodies and perky voices of pilates instructors and sitting in classrooms discussing the craft of writing. Yes, I'm only 197 words into my dissertation but these four months of near freedom shouldn't be wasted just writing. They should be spent wasting money living. Plus, if I don't live then what do I have to write about anyway?

So next month Dailey will be visiting and in one week we will visit more places in England than I have managed to get to in the entire year that I've lived here. Liverpool, Durham, Oxford. No one deserves a holiday more than Dale, and no one is more excited for her impending visit than me...except maybe Dale herself.

The end of April will be spent in Greece. Five glorious days in warmer weather where the sun shines and the ocean is never far away. It's a girls weekend of sorts and I absolutely cannot wait for sandals and no coats and not caring if I look like an American tourist.

There's a week in Spain with mi amor Jaime in May. A week of tit cheese and tuna for vegetarians and the no pasanada mentality. And a weekend excursion that is sure  to prove as adventurous as my last visit to Spain, if the emails from the elderly Spanish men in my inbox are any indication.

And then I will be coming home. Ohio is close at hand and I think I'm excited; it's strange to be nervous about the place you're from. I miss the trees and the summers that drown you in heat and voices that sound like mine. I miss my city and will be glad to be back in the heart of it all. Ohio is close, but it's not here yet. I've got four solid months to make the most of being this close to the rest of the world and I plan on doing just that. I'll save the nerves and excitement about home until the packing starts, for now I've got empty pages in my passport that need stamping.

I'll be home soon Ohio. Just give me a little more time. To travel. And live. Oh, and write my dissertation.